Banana Chocolate Chip Bars
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These banana chocolate chip bars are one part blondie and one part banana cake. They’re moist, tender and almost gooey with a delicious banana bread flavor and tons of chocolate chips. So simple – the perfect recipe for your brown bananas!
If you love chocolate chip banana bread – then you’re going to love these banana chocolate chip bars. They’re incredibly moist and verging on gooey, just like your favorite blondie recipe. The banana bread flavor comes from two whole mashed bananas, brown sugar, vanilla and a hint of vanilla. Then they’re loaded with chocolate chips.
I love eating these while they’re still slightly warm and the chocolate chips are a little melty.
Making Banana Chocolate Chip Bars – Step-by-Step
If you’re not interested in detailed photos – feel free to click the link below.
Jump to Recipe- Preheat the oven and line your pan. I always spray the pan first, then line with parchment so there’s an overhang around the sides. Greasing the pan first ensures that baking paper sticks to the pan – making it easier to spread the batter later.
- Whisk butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Using melted butter makes these bars denser and chewier. It should be melted and slightly cooled. I typically whisk the melted butter and sugar first, then whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix in the flour, cinnamon and salt. This can be done with a spatula until you no longer see lumps or streaks of flour.
- Stir in the mashed bananas. Make sure to cut out any bruises before mashing the bananas.
- Fold in the chocolate chips. Yeah – I like to use a lot.
- Pour into the pan and bake. The bars will need to bake for about 32-36 minutes, depending on how gooey you prefer them to be. A shorter bake time will lead to gooier bars.
Recipe Tip
You may notice that there’s no baking powder or baking soda in these banana bars. That is not a typo. Because I wanted these bars to be dense, chewy and almost gooey – similar to a blondie in texture – there’s no leavening agent. If you’d prefer these bars to be a little cakier in texture, then stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda along with the flour.
Chewy, moist, almost gooey and with big banana flavor – these banana chocolate chip bars are the perfect easy recipe for when your bananas have gone spotty.
And if you need more banana recipe inspiration, be sure to try:
Banana Chocolate Chip Bars
Equipment
- 8×8 inch (20×20 cm) pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (112 grams), melted and slightly cooled
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar (157 grams), or 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup mashed bananas (180 ml), about 2 bananas, depending on size
- 1 cup chocolate chips (180 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease an 8×8 inch (20×20 cm) pan and line with baking paper so that there's an overhang around the sides. Alternatively, lightly grease.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Then whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Gently stir in the flour, cinnamon and salt. I did this with a rubber spatula. Stop stirring when you no longer see lumps or streak of flour.
- Stir in the mashed bananas.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 32-35 minutes. When finished, the top should look set and an inserted toothpick should come out clean or with melted chocolate (but not gooey batter). Baking for longer will make the bars more cake-like in texture and less gooey.
- Cool in the pan for at least an hour. If you lined the pan, you can lift the bars out of the pan using the overhang of parchment and place on a cutting board to slice. If you simply greased the pan, slice in the pan.
Notes
- Bananas: Use brown, spotty bananas. Cut out any bruises before mashing and measure after mashing.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: There is no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe by design so that the bars are dense and slightly gooey. If you prefer a slightly more cake-like texture, add in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 4 days. Because of the moisture of the bananas, these are often best stored in the fridge.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 bar, assuming the pan is sliced into 9 large bars. You can likely get 12 bars from this recipe.
I made these banana bars today and they are so simple to make and very good. Hubby likes them too. I did add some pecan pieces since I had some on hand. Next time I make them, I will try the version you mentioned for a cake like texture just to see the difference. Definitely a recipe to make in repeat 🙂